Violence against horses in the name of Valencian sport

The Animal rights PACMA Party has denounced to the Valencian Government, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, the “systematic mistreatment to which the horses are subjected in the display of “de tiro y arrastre”, an indigenous Valencian sport that consists of the race of a Horse loaded with a cart full of sandbags.

The party has asked the Valencian government to abolish this practice, “which is subsidised with public funds” and has supported their complaints with videos obtained during recent months in different competitions

A spokesman said that it is an “activity in which bears no relationship to sport, as it consists only in subjecting one or more horses to dragging a heavy cart loaded with sacks weighing more than 3,500 kilograms along a sand track, in which many horses receiving blows, punishments and humiliating treatment from their handlers for not completing the course quickly enough “.

PACMA say that these denunciations have been presented “a few days after the Valencian Government approved a new subsidy of 9,000 euros for the sport, something that has been strongly criticized by the Party Rights Party.

“It is shameful that a government that defines itself as progressive and sensitive to animal abuse continues to subsidise an obvious form of abuse towards horses, which proves once again that for animals everything remains the same despite political change, “said Raquel Aguilar, coordinator of PACMA in Valencia.

Along with the denunciations and request for the abolition of this activity, PACMA has made public a video that “demonstrates the reality of the activity, as a cruel, violent, minority show that has no place in the development of a modern country.